Long-term threat continues for SeaWorld, zoos

SeaWorld and San Diego’s tourist economy have been spared a potentially devastating blow with the surprising but welcome failure of a state Assembly committee to pass misguided legislation that would have banned the popular orca shows at the park on Mission Bay. But the issues surrounding wild animals in captivity are hardly dead. SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo and similar parks throughout the state face future threats.

The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, stacked with members who usually side with the animal-rights movement, on Tuesday essentially shelved the bill by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, to ban orca shows, prohibit captive breeding of orcas and prohibit the import or export of orcas in or out of the state.

Instead, the committee agreed to have a study conducted and to revisit the issue next year. And Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat and the only committee member from San Diego County, issued a blustery warning that SeaWorld and its supporters “are on the wrong side of history and that within my lifetime this indefensible practice will be outlawed.”

SeaWorld San Diego President John Reilly was surely right in predicting that animal-rights activists would not stop at banning orca shows: Jobs, the economy, conservation programs and common sense be damned.